When the Chinese first learned that two Russian coast guard ships had sunk a Chinese-owned freighter on Feb. 15 in the Pacific Ocean, the incident must have aroused conflicting feelings regarding their sometimes overbearing neighbor. The freighter, the New Star, was registered with Sierra Leone and was using that country's flag of convenience. The Hong Kong-based J-Rui Lucky Shipping Company owned the vessel. Ten of the 16 crew members were Chinese citizens, while six were from Indonesia, including the captain. Of the eight who died when the ship sank 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the port of Nakhodka, seven were Chinese nationals. A company representative said the New Star had arrived at the Russian port of Nakhodka at the end of January with a cargo of rice. The intended buyer complained that the rice had gone bad, rejected the consignment, and demanded compensation for the canceled transaction. After repeatedly being denied permission to leave port, the Chinese ship decided to depart anyway. The ship's owners demanded compensation from Russian authorities for violating international law and the crew's "human rights" in sinking the vessel.
Keep reading for free!
Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:
Or, Subscribe now to get full access.
Already a subscriber? Log in here .
What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:
A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:
- Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
- Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
- Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
- The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
- The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
- Completely ad-free reading.
And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.